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A new draft of the Building Directive

November 2008

On 12 November 2008, the Commission will publish the proposal to amend the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (Buildings Directive II). A first draft expands the scope also for major renovations of buildings with less than 1,000 sq meters, and includes clearer definitions.

The requirements for the Energy passport will be increased also. This includes a requirement of transition towards demand-orientated energy performance certificates, including proposals, which measures can increase the energy efficiency. The new thing is that characteristics of energy performance in advertisements for sale and rental of apartments must be specified.

And finally, EU Member States should adopt a roadmap on how they are going to reach the targets to have more passive and low energy houses. This shall be accomplished without a Europe-wide definition on what passive or low energy houses exactly are.